Island



(No Model.)

T. A. RAY. BUTTON SETTING TOOL.

No. 483,695. Patented 001:. 4, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. RAY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE HEATON PENINSULAR BUTTON FASTENER COMPANY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

BUTTON-SETTING TOOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 483,695, dated October 4, 1892.

Application filed December 21, 1891. Serial lid 115,744. (No model.)

T 60% whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. RAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Button-Fastening Implements, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in hand-tools for securing buttons to shoes and other articles by means of metallic fasteners such, for instance, as those in use at the present time. These fasteners consist of staples usually with two prongs, but frequently, also, with three prongs, which are hooked through the eye of the button to be attached, passed through the material to which the button is to be attached, and clinched upon the side opposite the button by means of pressure exerted by the jaws of a fastening implement.

For the purpose of securing the buttons both foot-power machines and hand-tools are in common use. In the former the buttons,

with their attached fasteners, are generally fed automatically to the point at which the clinching operation is performed, while in the latter the buttons, with their fasteners, are placed one by one by hand, as required, in one of the jaws of the implement, ready to be secured by compression exerted through the medium of the other jaw. Whether in the case of foot-power machines or hand-tools, it is essential that when the fastener and its button are placed in the device they shall be maintained accurately in a certain defined position, so that the clinching may be perfectly and uniformly effected. I'Ieretofore this has been a matter of considerable difficulty. When no means are provided for holding the button with its fastener in just the proper position, repeated attempts are often necessary with successive fasteners before a clinchingis effected, and even then the clinching is liable to be insecure. Hence various mechanisms have been contrived to insure proper position on the part of the button and fastener; but, so far as I am aware, all of them are more or less complicated and unsatisfactory and liable to get out of repair. I overcome all difiiculty by employing, in conjunction with the fastening device, a magnet,

the function of which is to hold the fastener with its button in exactly the required position, and thus obviate the need of delicate and easily-impaired spring mechanism, such as has heretofore been employed when the best results were desired.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents in a side elevation a hand-tool provided with my improvement; Fig. 2, an end view of the same; Fig. 3, a vertical section taken on the line 3 of Fig. 2 and viewed in the direction of the arrow, and Fig. 4. a detail view in perspective.

A A are the handles, and B B the jaws pivotally connected att and maintained apart by a spring s, all of which may be of the ordinary construction employed in devices of the same class.

C is a spring-casin g secured to or integral with the jaw B.

Dis a spring inclosed within the casing and confined between a shoulder 0, formed in the casing at the lower end of the spring and a stop at the other end, which may consist of a screw q set into the top of the casing. From the lower end of the spring-recess an opening 19 extends to the bottom of the casing. The location of the parts is such that the portion of the casing C, which contains the spring, projects beyond the jaw B.

E is a magnet secured to the front of the casing C and having its lower end in the plane or approximately in the plane of the lower face of the jaw B. As an incident to the construction above described a space intervenes between the lower portion of the magnet and the end of the jaw B, and this space may be extended upward, as required, by recessing the casing C. The lower end of the magnet is recessed out at the front toward both inner edges of the approaching ends, as shown at 0, to conform approximately to the inner surface of the button, and is also cut away at the inner corners, as shown at 'n, to conform approximately to the top of the fastener.

F is a plate having a vertical slot m to receive the eye of the button and having an extension Z to enter the socket p in the casing O, to abut against the spring D. hen in position, the plate F is interposed between the magnet and the end of the jaw B and projects normally below the end of the magnet, being maintained at its lowest point by the action of the spring D. 7

To operate the device, the button, with a fastener passed through its eye, is set into the recesses 0 of the magnet, bringing the eye into the slot m in the plate F and bringing the top of the fastener under the shoulders at of the magnet. The attraction of the magnet upon the fastener, which is made of a magnetizable substance, serves to hold it in place, the plate F acting as a bearing to stay it. The material to which the button is to be secured is then interposed between the jaws, and the latter are brought together. The plate F yields under the pressure in oppositron to the spring D, but since the fastener abuts at its top against the lower end of the magnet the points are caused to puncture the material and then bend, forming a clinch upon the opposite side. In order to insure the bending of the prongs in the desired direction, the jaw B should be provided with a suitable clinching-die. The pressure is then released and the material with its attached button removed, when all the parts resume zheir normal position ready for a new opera- It will be found advantageous to make the plate F of magnctizable material, so that even if the part Z has slight play in its socket the plate will be maintained in contact with the magnet.

The general construction above described is the one which I prefer, but it is capable of modification Without departing from my invention. For example, with the form of magnet illustrated in the drawings it is convenient to place it in substantially perpendicular relation to the jaw, as shown; but it is obvious that the position may be varied, especially if the shape of the magnet be altered.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a hand implement for setting buttons, the combination of a casing (J, secured in fixed relation to one of the jaws thereof, a spring D, inclosed within the casing, a plate F, having a slot m crossing the end of the jaw and extending normally beyond the inner surface of the same and having its upper end extended, as required, to meet the spring, a magnet E, secured in fixed relation to the jaw beyond and adjacent to the plate F and having its end suitably shaped to form an abutting surface for the fastener, and a clinching-die upon the otherjaw, substantially as described.

FREDERICK A. RAY.

In presence of- J. N. HANSON, M. J. FROST. 

